Dragon Lugia

As many of you know I have drawn so many Pokemon characters in the past, and if you where to go in look in the Pokemon section under the anime category, you will see that there is more than one hundred different tuts on various characters. Here is another Pokemon that I will be adding. Here is my version of what a realistic version of Lugia would look like in dragon form. I think he looks awesome and that doesn't come off my lips lightly since I haven't watched any Pokemon episodes since forever. Even though Luiga will always look like a bat to me, he still looks very cool in a realistic form. The total drawing took only 20 minutes because it's a headshot. I've included a few coloring/shading tips to aid those who want to further their digital artwork skill. I plan to create more tuts featuring digital tips in the future. Thank so much for viewing, and let me know if this tutorial has helped, or if you want to see more like these! Peace out and good luck! ....

Step 1

Because this is going to be a pretty basic tutorial, we're going to jump right into drawing the guides for Lugia. Try to get them drawn to a point where layering the future lines will become evenly spread. Take your time, rushing will only cause slop!

Step 2

Next, we'll work our way onto drawing the head shape, as well as the muzzle for this cool character. Take your time with this step, because the future lines are going to be supported by these ones.

Step 3

Now, because Lugia's head features lots of sharp edges, we'll be drawing them in sharp angles. First, draw the eye so that the outer crests will be easier to outline. Don't forget that dented indication of brow at the middle of the forehead!

Step 4

Next, let's work on the lower jaw, and the pupil. Begin with the jaw first, and then the tongue. The rest of the jaw foreshadowing the tongue will be easier once you've done this. Use light - thin lines for the inner detailing.

Step 5

Lastly, using thick line weights, draw the long snaking neck. This shouldn't be too hard! Try using your entire arm as you draw these long curves, because it really does help avoiding squiggly lines.

Step 6

Once you've completed the steps above, you should have something like this! Scroll downwards if you want coloring/shading steps to create a similar digital effect like above. Warning, I advise you have Photoshop and a Wacom tablet or other pen stylus. Otherwise, mouse users will not have the advantage of efficient work flow opposed to having a tablet. Feel free to use this lineart to practice with!

Step 7

Alright folks, I know I'm going to get a lot of people (have been) asking me for a shading tutorial, revealing a few of my techniques. This is going to be a digital coloring walk-through, so it should be helpful for you Photoshop and Wacom tablet users. First, I get questioned "Dawn, how do you color without going out of the lines?". What I do is basically use a 'Marquee' or 'Wand' tool. It's a fantastic feature that allows you to select areas and quickly fill in any desired color. So what we do first is, take our wand tool and fill in the colors of Lugia *use the settings featured in the full view image*. To do this, go to Select > Modify > Expand. This will further the selected area for as many pixels as we want, to avoid unfilled areas. I always expand with 1 pixel. To fill, hit 'Shift+F5'.

Step 8

Then, create a new layer to lay down the shadows. Once you create a layer, you'll want to mask it ontop of the color layer. This will avoid from shading out of the 'Colors' layer. Whenever you create a new layer, and clip it onto another, the layer will become a mask. Next, fill that layer with a shadow color. Don't go too dark! The next step will make the chosen color much darker than it seems. Then, set that shadow layer to 'Multiply'. This will darken everything with a chosen color. In this case, I'm using a tint of blue, which offsets Lugia's flesh tone. Once you've done that, take the 'Lasso Tool', and select areas you want to highlight. I find this method easier to work with because you get a much more accurate shadow value than painting on shadows. We're going to etch in highlights, similar to what you'd do with graphite pencil art. Take the 'Eraser Tool', and choose a huge brush that's soft edged. We're going to erase in the highlights!

Step 9

I see a lot of kids asking how to digitally shade eyes to where it looks glossy like marbles or silver. First, begin with a basic color. Get a darker color and shade almost halfway. Then, take an airbrush or soft brush, and highlight with a lighter - saturated tone. Next, add a few dabs of lighter tones that offset the previous. Lastly, take your 'Lasso Tool' and select an area above the shadow, and lightly paint over it to create a glass effect. Don't forget those sweet spots of highlight as well!

Step 10

To complete our adventure of shading Lugia, let's start adding reflective light to create the appearance that he's basking in the moonlight. Again, take your 'Lasso Tool' and select areas you want to add the blue reflective light. Get a big soft brush, setting the flow to 58%. Now, paint over the selected areas SUBTLY! Do NOT add too much of the highlights because Lugia isn't THAT close to the moon! Lastly, I finish off by adding a pretty little background. I hope this was a fun experience for most of you! I plan to create more like these in the future :) Have fun!

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